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Jam_4:12. One is the lawgiver and judge, (namely) He who can rescue (save) and destroy. The chief accent lies on εἷς , in opposition to men who presume to be judges.
ὁ νομοθέτης καὶ κριτής ] The idea νομοθέτης is here introduced, because the judging belongs only to Him who has given the law, and is adduced against those who by judging their neighbour act as lawgivers, whereas their duty is to obey the given law. The explanation of Morus is false: legislator et judex est una eademque persona; and Theile infers from this something entirely foreign: unus est legislator … idem utriusque legis auctor: et severioris mosaicae et liberalioris christianae … isque etiam judex … et legitimus et idoneus, idque et utriusque legis et eorum qui alterutram sequuntur; of all which there is here no mention.
ὁ δυνάμενος σῶσαι καὶ ἀπολέσαι ] serves for a more precise statement of the subject εἷς (so also Brückner, Lange, Bouman); it mentions who this One is, and in such a manner that it is also announced why He and He only can be νομοθέτης καὶ κριτής . Schneckenburger correctly observes: ὁ δυνάμενος … articulus appositionis signum, ad subjectum εἷς pertinentis grammatice; but incorrectly adds: ita autem ut, quoad sensum, melius in propriam resolvatur sententiam. Not only grammatically, but also according to the sense, ὁ δυνάμενος , etc., is to be most closely united to εἷς ; therefore also Luther’s translation: “there is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to condemn,” is incorrect.[205]
ὁ δυνάμενος ] is not, with Schneckenburger, to be resolved into ᾧ ἔξεστι , but is to be retained in its literal meaning. Bengel correctly remarks: nostrum non est judicare; praesertim cum exequi non possimus.
On σῶσαι , see chap. Jam_2:14; on ἀπολέσαι , particularly Mat_10:28.
σὺ δὲ τίς εἶ ] expresses the insignificance of man, in contrast to ὁ δυνάμενος κ . τ . λ . (Schneckenburger), thus: “Thou who hast no power to save and to destroy;” comp. Mat_10:28.
The same question in Rom_14:4; Rom_9:20.[206]
Ὁ ΚΡΊΝΩΝ ] Schneckenburger: “thou appos. ad pron. σύ ; qui articuli hanc vim nescierunt, loco participii posuerunt Ὃς ΚΡΙΝΕΙς .”
ΤῸΝ ΠΛΗΣΊΟΝ ] without the personal pronoun, as in Mar_12:33; Rom_13:10; Rom_15:2. The Rec. τὸν ἕτερον perhaps arose from Rom_2:1.
[205] Most expositors in the interpretation of this passage have failed in precision, being satisfied with giving only its general meaning. They appear for the most part to regard ὁ δυνάμενος κ . τ . λ . as an attribute of ὁ νομοθέτης (the Rec. omits καὶ κριτής ); thus de Wette translates it: “One is the lawgiver and judge, who is able to save and to destroy.” Wiesinger gives here only a paraphrase which is wanting in definiteness: “Judging us and our brethren belongs to Him alone (namely, to Him who as lawgiver is not under, but above the law), and He proves His exclusive right by His power to save and to destroy, with which He confirms His judicial sentence.”
[206] Yet is the σύ here to be understood in definite antithesis to another, namely to God, on which account also δέ is added. It has therefore a more independent meaning than in the passages adduced from the Epistle to the Romans. In this there is reason for the editors Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Buttmann here placing a comma after εἶ , but not in those other passages.